scholarly journals QUEER UNIONS: Same-Sex Spouses Marrying Tradition and Innovation

2010 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Isaiah Green
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Family ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Psychological Resources ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Civil Marriage ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
The One ◽  
Traditional Norms ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Heterosexual Marriage

Same-sex civil marriage is a focal point of debate among social conservatives, feminists, queer critics and lesbian and gay assimilationists. In this paper, I draw on in-depth interviews of thirty same-sex married spouses to explore how actual same-sex marriages relate to these debates. Among these spouses, civil marriage is perceived to provide significant legal, social and psychological resources that, in effect, consolidate the nuclear family and the institution of marriage. Yet, conversely, these spouses do not uniformly embrace traditional norms of marriage, but, rather, adopt a range of nontraditional norms and practices that, in effect, destabilize the traditional marital form. In sociological terms, however, their complexity is not surprising, as contemporary lesbians and gay men are dually socialized in the dialectic of a dominant “meaning-constitutive” tradition (Gross 2005) that valorizes (heterosexual) marriage and kinship, on the one hand, but a queer-meaning constitutive tradition that promotes sexual freedom and nontraditional gender relations, on the other. In this sense, one important sociological question for the future is the extent to which the increasing availability of same-sex marriage will transform the dialectic, eroding the structural conditions that underpin a distinctive queer meaning-constitutive tradition and, in turn, same-sex marital innovation.

Secularisation and intimate relationships in a Catholic community: Is Malta a resistant niche?

2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 372-388
Author(s):  
Angele Deguara
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Relationships ◽  
Sexual Morality ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Civil Marriage ◽  
Catholic Faith ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Lgbt Individuals

This study explores secularisation in a traditionally Catholic community through the analysis of intimate relationships which fall outside Catholic morality. It gives an indication of how individuals in contemporary society perceive Church teachings on sexuality in terms of the relationship choices they make. The research draws upon 2 years of fieldwork carried out with Drachma LGBTI, a space where lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex (LGBTI) people of faith may explore and deepen their spirituality. I also conducted 35 in-depth interviews with LGBT and non-LGBT individuals whose lifestyle runs counter to official Church teachings on sexuality, despite their Catholic faith that is, who are in a same-sex relationship or else divorced, cohabiting or in a civil marriage. The study revealed that while informants may disregard Church teachings on matters of sexuality, their reconstructed sexual morality is still embedded within a Catholic framework.

scholarly journals Something old, something new: Historicizing same-sex marriage within ongoing struggles over African marriage in South Africa

Sexualities ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1092-1108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W Yarbrough
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Romantic Love ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
Depth Interviews

This article examines contemporary struggles over same-sex marriage in the daily lives of black lesbian- and gay-identified South Africans. Based primarily on 21 in-depth interviews with such South Africans drawn from a larger project on post-apartheid South African marriage, the author argues that their current struggles for relationship recognition share much in common with contemporaneous struggles of their heterosexual counterparts, and that these commonalities reflect ongoing tensions between more extended-family and more dyadic understandings of African marriage. The increasing influence of dyadic understandings of marriage, and of associated ideals of romantic love, has helped inspire same-sex marriage claims and, in many cases, facilitate their acceptance. At the same time, continuing contestation over such understandings helps drive instances of opposition.

scholarly journals The Italian public debate on same-sex civil unions and gay and lesbian parenting

Sexualities ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 691-709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Lasio ◽  
Francesco Serri
Keyword(s):  
Public Debate ◽  
Gay And Lesbian ◽  
Natural Order ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Civil Unions ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
Lesbian Parenting ◽  
The Law ◽  
Heterosexual Marriage ◽  
Gay And Lesbian Parenting

After many years of heated debate, in 2016 the Italian parliament approved a law to regulate same-sex civil unions. Although this can be considered a significant step towards the equality of lesbian and gay couples, the law preserves legal differences between heterosexual marriage and homosexual union and does not guarantee the rights of lesbian and gay parents and their children. In this article, we analyze the public debate on same-sex couples and gay and lesbian parenting that occurred in Italy while the parliament was discussing the law. Findings highlight that the ‘natural order’ argument and the irreducible differences between heterosexual marriage and same-sex union are the bedrock of the current expression of heteronormativity in Italy.

scholarly journals Something Old, Something New: Historicizing Same-Sex Marriage within Ongoing Struggles over African Marriage in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Yarbrough
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Romantic Love ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
Depth Interviews

This paper examines contemporary struggles over same-sex marriage in the daily lives of black lesbian- and gay-identified South Africans. Based primarily on 21 in-depth interviews with such South Africans drawn from a larger project on post-apartheid South African marriage, I argue that their current struggles for relationship recognition share much in common with contemporaneous struggles of their heterosexual counterparts, and that these commonalities reflect ongoing tensions between more extended-family and more dyadic understandings of African marriage. The increasing influence of dyadic understandings of marriage, and of associated ideals of romantic love, has helped inspire same-sex marriage claims and, in many cases, facilitate their acceptance. At the same time, continuing contestation over such understandings helps drive instances of opposition.

Structural Transformation and Inclusive Growth

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Sumner
Keyword(s):  
Structural Transformation ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Import Substitution ◽  
National Development ◽  
Inclusive Growth ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The One ◽  
Import Substitution Industrialization

This chapter reviews currents in theory with a focus on modernization and neoclassical statements of comparative advantage on the one hand, and structuralism, dependency, and other theories of underdevelopment on the other. The latter theories of underdevelopment hit their zenith in the policies of the import-substitution industrialization of the 1960s and 1970s. They were largely dismissed in the 1980s as the limits of import-substitution industrialization became apparent and as East Asia industrialized, undermining any argument that structural transformation was problematic in the periphery. This chapter theorizes that neither orthodox nor heterodox theories of structural transformation adequately explain the development of late developers because of the heterogeneity of contemporary capitalism. That said, heterodox theories, which coalesce around the nature of incorporation of developing countries into the global economy, do retain conceptual usefulness in their focal point, ‘developmentalism’, by which we mean the deliberate attempts at national development led by the state.

What Prevents Adolescent Girls from Transitioning from School to Work in India? Insights from an Exploratory Study in Rajasthan

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-48
Author(s):  
Shireen J. Jejeebhoy ◽  
A. K. Shiva Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
School To Work ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Work Transition ◽  
Natal Home ◽  
Traditional Norms ◽  
Women In India ◽  
Depth Interviews

Female labour force participation among young women in India is disturbingly low, and yet little evidence is available regarding the factors likely to affect the school-to-work transition among the young. Data from 325 girls aged 15–19 years and in-depth interviews with 10 of these girls and 9 of their mothers in one block of Jodhpur district, obtained from a mixed-methods study in Rajasthan, explore girls’ aspirations for professional, administrative or technical careers and factors likely constraining or facilitating their articulation of such aspirations. Findings show that girls who aspired for a professional, administrative or technical career were more likely than others to display better learning outcomes (odds ratio = 1.31), greater work-related agency and a readiness to overcome community obstacles (odds ratio, 1.28) than those who did not aspire for a professional, administrative or technical career. They were also more likely to be unmarried or married but residing in the natal home (odds ratio = 2.97) and have supportive parents (odds ratio = 1.37). In-depth interviews corroborate these obstacles. Findings underscore the need to empower girls and break down traditional norms held by girls, parents and communities. On the programme front, it is important to ensure empowerment programmes for girls and address the quality and girl-friendliness of education and vocational training opportunities.

The State Policy towards the Homeless in Moldova between the ‘Left Hand’ and the ‘Right Hand’. The Case of Chișinău Shelter

Südosteuropa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-195
Author(s):  
Petru Negură
Keyword(s):  
Homeless People ◽  
Severe Disabilities ◽  
The State ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Right Hand ◽  
Binary Approach ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract The Centre for the Homeless in Chișinău embodies on a small scale the recent evolution of state policies towards the homeless in Moldova (a post-Soviet state). This institution applies the binary approach of the state, namely the ‘left hand’ and the ‘right hand’, towards marginalised people. On the one hand, the institution provides accommodation, food, and primary social, legal assistance and medical care. On the other hand, the Shelter personnel impose a series of disciplinary constraints over the users. The Shelter also operates a differentiation of the users according to two categories: the ‘recoverable’ and those deemed ‘irrecoverable’ (persons with severe disabilities, people with addictions). The personnel representing the ‘left hand’ (or ‘soft-line’) regularly negotiate with the employees representing the ‘right hand’ (‘hard-line’) of the institution to promote a milder and a more humanistic approach towards the users. This article relies on multi-method research including descriptive statistical analysis with biographical records of 810 subjects, a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with homeless people (N = 65), people at risk of homelessness (N = 5), professionals (N = 20) and one ethnography of the Shelter.

Becoming fertile in the land of organic milk: Lesbian and queer reproductions of femininity and motherhood in Sweden

Sexualities ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1021-1038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrika Dahl
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Family Formation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Organic Milk ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
Lesbian Motherhood ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

This article draws on popular culture, ethnographic materials and mainstream commercials to discuss contemporary understandings of the relationship between fertility, pregnancy and parenthood among lesbians and other queer persons with uteruses. It argues that, on the one hand, same-sex lesbian motherhood is increasingly celebrated as evidence of Swedish gender and sexual exceptionalism and, on the other, queers who wish to challenge heteronormative gender disavow both the relationship between fertility and femininity, and that of pregnancy and parenthood. The author argues that in studying queer family formation, we must move beyond addressing heteronormativity and begin studying how gender, sexuality, race and class get reproduced in queer kinship stories.

Women and Men: 1760–1960

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Goldberg
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Nuclear Family ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
German History ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Separate Spheres ◽  
The One ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Welfare State

This article is about the power of a norm and its mutation over time: the gender role division of the private nuclear family composed of a male provider and protector, and his dependent children and homemaker wife. Those roles corresponded to rigid distinctions that were made between a male public world of work, money, and politics, on the one hand, and a female private sphere of reproduction and nurturance, on the other. These were prescribed ideals of gender. However, as such, the ideals have had tremendous power, shaping personal identity and the daily lives of men and women, as well as influencing the development of the state, civil society, politics, and the economy, according to a vast and growing scholarship. This article highlights the powerful role played by the norm of separate spheres over two centuries of German history along with the development of civil society and the welfare state.

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